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Introducing TUSH - The Ultimate Spool Holder v.2. I was using a regular spool holder. Not the most convenient design, if you ask me, because It takes some time to replace the roll. Also, based on 608 bearings, It gives more than requested length of filament since there is no traction. That's why I designed this Ultimate Spool Holder. It is simple, easy, sexy and comfy.
For one spool holder you will need to print four pieces of this. Also, you will need four 608 bearings. Get the cheapest ones. They are available everywhere. This is press-fit design. Just press the bearings into the printed part, and voila, you have The Ultimate Spool Holder! Congratulations!

UPDATE: Version 2 uploaded
This is exactly the same TUSH. Just some fixes. Now Simplify3D ans slic3r should be happy with the model. Cheers!

works great, except; some spools are not smooth at all, i have some spools which have the notches from injection molding on the outside of the spool. This causes the spool to turn difficult on some portions..

Thanks for this! I made set and they seem to work just fine. Ordered bearings from Ebay - 30 for about $12. I ordered so many because I need to make 4 pairs for my Prusa MK2.

On the stock MK2, there is just one filament reel and that is mounted on top of the machine. However, I recently upgraded to the new Prusa "multi-material" version that can use up to 4 filaments and automatically switch back and forth. In this case, the 4 filaments reside at the rear of the machine on the desk. In the Prusa design, the reel sits on a rod connected to the "centers" of two bearings with the outside races fixed so they can't move. I suppose that this design allows use of reels of different widths without holder adjustment.

However, I think the Prusa holder design does not allow the reels to rotate smoothly enough. Maybe there is a bearing/rod alignment issue or maybe the rod is actually "bent" a little. Or maybe there is a "friction" issue between the rod and the reel. In any case, If there is too much tension in the filament because the reel cannot turn easily, the filament can be "ground up" by the knurled feed roller and printing stops.

While I have yet to try your design in actual printing, a "manual" test shows me that the reel turns more freely with this design. As another reader suggested, maybe the two halves should be somehow connected. In my case, I need to figure out how to "gang up" 4 sets so they aren't running all over my desk. I'll probably wind up re-mixing your design in some way. But, thanks to your design, I have some ideas!

Works great thanks. I have the reels with the filament coming out clockwise from the bottom. Between the gap is a sponge which the filament runs over, just to help take the dust off of it. I've also bolted the 2 sides of each together with M3 hardware and double sided tape on the bottom to stick them in place on the shelf.

Made this today and saw an immediate improvement in print quality over the spool holder that comes with the Anet A8. Nice, simple design that is versatile enough that I won't need a new one when I decide to make an enclosure.

Thanks for designing this, I wasn't a huge fan of the usual ones people tend to suggest.

I just bought these and it doesn't seem that they would work. They are all covered in grease and don't spin freely at all. I might as well just put the end of the spool on a wooden dowel. Did those bearings work for you?

1) Keep the sides together (I hate using glue)
2) Lock in the two pair spacing such that you don't have to adjust every time a spool is moved

The concept is wonderful; I printed three sets (five if you count the two sets I gave away). I would just like the two sides to stay put, and for the spacing to be fixed for the spool (hope this makes sense). A single "H" type tray would do both functions nicely.

Hi, printed this spool holder first thing I got my Prusa MK2S. But there seems to be a problem printing with infill on the long edge (Layers >3mm Z height) with Slicer:

I used 0.2mm Z with PLA and 3 perimeter lines. On this long edge slicer tried to put infill inside, resulting in a lot of material squeezed in between the three perimeter lines. After 3-4 Layers the nozzle would collide with material build-up and eventually bind on the X-rail skipping steps. On my first try it worked, but you could see hints to this in a bad surface finish. I wanted to print a second TUSH (so 4 pieces more), but now, after the second try at Z height of 4.6 to 5.0 mm the X-achsis skips steps.

I will try to print with the same settings, but 4 perimeter lines. In Slicer the wired infill is gone this way...

You don't have this problem, because - as shown in the photo - you roll off the filament downwards.
That way, the tare on the filament will push the roll always into the TUSH.
If you place the TUSH besides your printer and roll off to an extruder that's higer than the roll, the roll weight is crucial: as soon as there's only a little bit of filament on the roll (and the whole thing gets lighter) the extruder may pull the roll off the TUSH (or crash it).

There's a quick fix for that: put something heavy in the center of the spool to increase the weight, therefore stabilizing it.

Actually, this was my first SketchUp project. :) It is very likely that I have some mistakes. :) The sketchup project file is attached. If someone can check what's wrong with It, I will be thankfull. For me It is visually good and prints good with Cura. :)

There are a few extra faces inside the model that need deleting (if you delete the back face you can see the circles are filled in, not hollow) and I think I read somewhere that all faces should be the same way around (all white or all grey on the outside) for 3d printing as it can cause errors. This is easy to do by selecting the faces you want to flip and right click and go to reverse faces. I've only just got a printer so don't know much about slicers at all but have been using sketchup for a while.

I have been using OpenSCAD to do my designs but I will see of I can download SketchUp and try this.

Think my problem is with my printer rather than the model since Slic3r manages to repair it? The print bed is circular,
150mm diameter and I have had problems with other models that come close to the edge!

Loaded the STL file in Simplify3D and the mesh seems broken at several locations. Some triangles (including both cylinders) are facing the wrong around. Neither the auto healing nor the repair options are able to fix it.

I've found a problem with a new roll. The filament fills all inside space of the roll. Thus It cannot enter in the holder channel, or cannot rotate freely. Also, If the new filament unwinds and fall down on a side, It can cause a very nasty mess...

Printed :) I would love to see something that connected the two sides together just to make the whole thing a bit more stable. What about an optional flat section along the ground in the middle that clipped the two sides together and then also helped clamp the bottom parts of the sides together. So like some sort of jigsaw puzzle type fit on each side.

The barrel with the concave surface is great. Keeps the spool in the middle. Mine is 140mm long and will hold any spool. The only down side to this is you need to print another part as its not as simple as your design.

Yes, I've seen this design, and I like It very much! Probably I can make an upgrade with two cylinders as you suggested. :) It will keep TUSH in the minimalistic style. Now you have to print 4 parts. The you will have to print 4 parts again - 2 holders and two cylinders. Great! Thanks!

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